Palestinian Authority officials stated they are launching deep-seated financial and corporate governance reforms designed to enhance transparency, at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2003 in Davos, Switzerland. Among the anticipated changes, the Palestinian Authority will allow next month independent auditors, such as Standard and Poor’s, to scrutinize its commercial assets and investments.
”All commercial assets and investments owned by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) will be disclosed, managed and supervised in a manner consistent with international standards of transparency, accountability and good governance,” vowed Salam Fayyad, PNA minister of finance.
The reforms, which were devised with help from Standard and Poor’s and the Democracy Council of the United States, include corporate governance commitments restricting conflicts of interest and reining in corruption. The reforms also include guidelines for managing the PNA’s budget, making investments, undertaking due diligence reports, enforcing disclosure standards and auditing the financial results.
“We deem it most appropriate and fitting to be talking about financial reforms at the World Economic Forum’s Meeting in Davos whose theme is ‘Building Trust’,” Fayyad said. “The ultimate objective of the reforms that we have embarked upon is to build trust in the capacity of our system to deliver, particularly at this time of great difficulty for our people and indeed the region as a whole.”
Fayyad added the PNA would announce details of the financial reform “and publish a list of all the PA’s assets” before February 22, 2003. Fayyad was speaking during the 33rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where more than 2,300 participants from 104 countries are gathered to debate global problems and seek solutions. The meeting lasts six days. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
